For years, content marketing has been a game of SEO optimization and keyword research. And frankly? We’ve been getting away with murder: We could build entire careers by cranking out informational blog posts and watching the traffic roll in.
We all know it and are tracking it: That landscape is shifting fast. Those information-based pieces still have their place (and I'm not saying ditch them), but they're no longer the complete picture. The content teams who'll thrive in 2025 aren't just answering questions—they're shaping the conversations that matter.
But I’m excited. After all, didn’t we all get into content marketing with some vague notion that you'd be contributing actual thinking to your industry? That we'd shape perspectives rather than just create wiki-style pages of information? Whether you call it ‘thought leadership’ or ‘editorial content,’ it sounds like the kind of thing we’d all rather do anyway. Indeed, many of us are like ‘finally, content marketing is coming back!’
Here's the kicker, though: You can be excited by the idea of this kind of content and still not have a clue how to work through it. Totally fair: After all, this is a muscle many content teams haven't flexed in ages (if ever). You need an approach, not just enthusiasm.
What Does a Good Pitch Even Look Like?
The start of any approach to content is understanding the audience. You’ll always have your readers, but thought leadership also has the pick-up component. The other thought leaders and media outlets you hope will pay attention.
The marketing team huddles up and thinks, "We need some badass thought leadership pieces! Let's brainstorm some shit-disturbing ideas!" What journalists and media outlets are actually looking for is fundamentally different. Now, hopefully you have a great PR team and agency who can guide you here, but it's still great for content marketers to understand the media perspective.
High level: Media wants stories that are interesting and important to their general readership
Other things they look for:
- Timely: Stories that speak to something happening now (not your evergreen content marketing)
- Long-term significance: Ask yourself will this matter in 2 weeks? 4 weeks? Although news is a fast cycle, journalists are generally interested in events and information that signal something greater.
- “New”: News must be ‘new’ so if it’s a story the publication feels it’s already covered, they probably won’t pick it up.
- A strong human element: Data is great, but don’t forget the human part of the equation. Show them the impact of your data on people, make it real. Moreover, journalists want experts and people to talk to—chasing down and scheduling time with people is a big chore for them)
- Multi-dimensional: The best stories have more than one discussion point even if they have one key storyline. Consider ideas that naturally lead to other discussions and talking points.
4 More Things to Consider
- Align with editorial priorities: Most publications maintain annual focus areas—topics they're committed to exploring in depth. Individual journalists typically specialize in specific beats. When your PR team understands these priorities, you can tailor your thought leadership accordingly.
- Respect news cycles: Newsrooms operate with finite resources that shift dramatically during breaking news events. Even the most compelling thought leadership can get lost in the noise during major news cycles. Time your releases strategically.
- Facilitate human connections: Journalists value expert sources they can interview directly. Make your thought leaders accessible for follow-up conversations, not just available through published content.
- Levity is often welcome! Many content marketers mistakenly believe thought leadership requires controversy or gravitas. In reality, journalists also actively seek uplifting narratives that provide hope or practical solutions.
The Execution Traps
When brands try to create thought leadership without truly understanding the media landscape, they inevitably fall into one of two traps.
The Bandwagon Trap
This happens constantly. A topic gets hot, everyone's talking about it, and suddenly your CMO is asking "what's our take on this?" I've seen countless clients who want to jump on whatever conversational wave is cresting without stopping to consider whether they actually have anything meaningful to add.
During the pandemic, we had clients with zero healthcare expertise suddenly wanting to express perspectives on mental health and loneliness. The motivation wasn't wrong, but the approach was fundamentally flawed.
Here's the problem: The bandwagon approach fails on two fronts. First, you risk being called out for performative virtue signaling (especially on ethical topics). Second—and more critically—it's not rooted in the truth of your product and brand. Ultimately, it won’t really support your business goals to talk about topics you play no meaningful role in.
The Echo Chamber Trap
The flip side is equally problematic: Assuming that conversations happening inside your business or customer group will naturally matter to a broader audience. Your dev team may have spent two years building your latest feature but that doesn’t make it interesting to others. Unfortunately, there is not always a direct correlation between effort and interestingness. The echo chamber trap happens when you're too close to your own business reality to objectively assess whether anyone else would care.
Both traps stem from the same fundamental issue: approaching thought leadership without a structured methodology that bridges your internal reality with the external media landscape.
Pick Your Weapon: Thought Leadership Story Types
Before you dive into a brainstorming session for your next big idea, you need to get brutally honest about what kind of thought leadership vehicle makes sense for your organization. This isn't just about picking topics—it's about selecting an approach that aligns with your team's actual capabilities, resources, and appetite for risk.
Let me be clear: The content approach has to come first. All the brilliant ideas in the world won't matter if you've selected a vehicle your organization can't credibly drive. You can't have a shit-disturbing counter-narrative opinion piece if nobody in your C-suite is willing to be the shit-disturber.
But there’s good news—you have other options. There are lots of different kinds of thought leadership. And depending on your brand and your talent, you may find that one is a better fit for you. A well-executed industry analysis beats a half-assed contrarian take every time.
The choices include
- Counter-narrative opinions
- Personal stories
- Data reports
- Industry analysis
- Expert roundtables
- Visionary frameworks
Our Approach to Brainstorming Thought Leadership With Clients
At Digital Sisco, we've developed a brainstorming approach that consistently produces thought leadership that breaks through. We're not interested in theoretical exercises—we want ideas that drive real impact. Our framework focuses on finding stories that sit at the intersection of four critical elements:
Brand + Product Truths
What's authentically connected to your product, service, or organizational DNA? This is your foundation—the experiences, expertise, and insights that only your brand can genuinely claim. If you're not starting here, you're building on sand.
Reader Realities
What actually matters to your target audience right now? Not what you wish they cared about, but what's genuinely keeping them up at night or sparking their curiosity. This requires honest audience intelligence, not wishful thinking.
Media Needs
What elements will make journalists and publications care? This brings us back to timeliness, significance, novelty, and the other criteria we outlined earlier. Your idea needs to check these boxes to break through the noise.
Competitive Whitespace
What aren't your competitors already saying? If five other companies in your space are already talking about a topic, your "me too" perspective won't make waves unless you have a dramatically different angle. Try to stand apart.
Example: You’re a Challenger Bank
Okay this isn’t the most earth-shattering example but just to make it real: Imagine you're a challenger bank offering more affordable banking solutions compared to the Big 5 in Canada. Your core product proposition centers on accessibility and lower fees.
- Brand + Product Truth: Affordable banking without hidden fees is your DNA.
- Reader Realities: Research shows consumers are frustrated about transaction fees increasing at major banks while those same institutions report record profits and fat cat bonuses.
- Media Hook: You know a journalist at the Financial Post who's investigating the lack of competition in Canada and how it impacts consumers in real terms.
- Competitive Gap: Other affordable banking alternatives have been too timid to directly challenge the Big 5's fee structures.
In this scenario, creating a data-driven story charting the rising costs at major banks compared to decreasing service quality hits every element of the framework. Weaving in human stories about the impact, treatment, and financial hardships of Canadians would add a human element. It's authentic for your brand to hold the mic here, relevant to your audience, interesting to media, and distinct from competitor messaging.
This intersection approach isn't just theoretical—it's battle-tested across many of our clients. It cuts through the noise of brainstorming sessions and focuses teams on what will actually work. No more chasing bandwagons or getting lost in echo chambers.
Need Help Breaking Through? Literally What We Do
The truth is, busy teams rarely have the time or mental space to step back and reimagine their approach. You're caught in the day-to-day deliverables, the quarterly targets, and the constant pressure to produce. And the longer you've been playing the same game, the harder it is to change the rules.
That's where we come in.
At Digital Sisco, we bring both methodology and perspective to thought leadership development. We don't just facilitate brainstorms—we completely reframe how your team thinks about content.
We work with our clients to cut through the confusion. Instead of watching your team spin their wheels with "cool ideas" that go nowhere, we guide them toward concepts that check all the boxes—brand authenticity, audience relevance, media appeal, and competitive distinction.
Ready to evolve your content approach? We'd love to chat!
